Woodland’s school district, like many others throughout the nation, is reviewing emergency procedures and how to better protect its students.

Over 60 Woodland staff members from every school attended a two-hour districtwide review of lock downs for active shooters, intruders and medical emergencies, led by Child Welfare and Attendance Administrator Hector Molina.

“The key thing today will be the new yellow page for an active shooter lock down,” he said, Thursday at district offices. “The majority of the time we have a lock down, it’ll be a medical emergency, possible intruder, but if needed, a shooter. These are the things that teachers are supposed to do.”

The action comes following the Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, shooting of 17 students and staff of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

With mostly elementary school staff from throughout Woodland in the room, Molina reviewed shooting scenarios from Sandy Hook and highlighted one major procedure to review is “If we need to release the kids (during similar situations), how do we do that and how do we let the parents know?”

For a more intimate training, School Resource Officer Nolan McManus will visit individual schools and present on “survival mind set,” instincts and prevention.

“I got a little bit more extra training on active shooters,” McManus explained. “So I can not only teach our teachers but staff as well.”

Pioneer High School was first in the district to receive his training and other schools are lined up, he noted.

“As teachers, we need to protect our students,” McManus said, providing a preview of his presentation. “If the hair on the back of your neck stands up, you need to trust that.”

Training and review come nearly two weeks after 14 Florida high school students and three adults were killed by a 19-year-old former student, who pulled a fire alarm to draw out victims. To avoid this specific scenario, Woodland schools are practicing its secondary alert systems, Molina noted.

Now, a popular debate is whether or not to arm teachers on campus. One parent at the most recent board meeting suggested hiring retired military or police personnel to patrol schools.

But at least one Woodland principal doesn’t see that happening soon.

“I think we’re a long way from that,” said Prairie Elementary Principal Scott Clary. “Schools operate in minutes. For people on the outside, they don’t understand how quickly things move. The difference of five minutes, is huge. If recess is over, and everyone’s inside, maybe having an armed person will make a difference cause they’ll see someone weird coming on campus. But if everyone’s at recess and somebody’s in the apartments across the street with an high-powered riffle, what am I supposed to do about that? I mean, that’s not reasonable.”

“I think we’re doing a good job,” Clary said. “But at the end of the day most schools across the county aren’t designed to keep people out. Schools reflect the community that they serve. Problems we’re having as a country trickle into school, so all this ‘school violence’ reflects violence in society and how are we going to fix that as a nation?”

A California senator proposed Wednesday raising the age for buying rifles and shotguns from 18 to 21. Democratic Sen. Anthony Portantino’s bill would also bar people from buying more than one firearm within a 30-day window, according to the Associated Press.

Those restrictions are already in place for handgun purchases in California, and the bill would extend it to all long guns.

Meanwhile, Walmart announced it would no longer sell ammunition and firearms to people under 21.

The move came after Dick’s Sporting Goods announced Wednesday that it would restrict the sale of firearms to those under 21. It didn’t mention ammunition. Dick’s also said it would immediately stop selling assault-style rifles.

About the Author

Jenice Tupolo is a staff writer at The Daily Democrat. She graduated from Chico State University in May 2017 with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. She enjoys eating, watching Netflix and sleeping on her new mattress topper. Reach the author at jtupolo@dailydemocrat.com
or follow Jenice on Twitter: @jaytupolo.